Devotion to the Immaculate Lily of the Most Holy Trinity

“A devout servant of Mary shall never perish.” — St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori

This devotion was revealed by our Blessed Mother Herself to the Benedictine mystic, St. Mechtilde. In the Book of Revelations of St. Mechtilde we read:

“While Mechtilde was beseeching the glorious Virgin to assist her in her hour of death, Our Lady appeared to her and said: ‘I will certainly. But I also want you to say three special Hail Mary’s to me every day.

‘The first will be in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my soul so high above every other creature that, after God, I have the greatest power in Heaven and on earth. In the hour of your death, I will use that power of God the Father to keep any hostile power far from you.

‘The second Hail Mary will be said in honor of the Son of God, Who communicated His inscrutable wisdom to me. In the hour of your death, I will fill your soul with the light of that wisdom, so that all the darkness of ignorance and error will be dispelled.

‘The third Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Holy Ghost, Who filled my soul with the sweetness of His love and tenderness and mercy. In your last hour, I will then change the bitterness of death into divine sweetness and delight.”

The secretary who wrote down the revelations of St. Mechtilde at her dictation was St. Gertrude the Great. Later, many revelations regarding the Three Hail Mary Devotion were revealed to St. Gertrude also. Our Blessed Mother spoke to St. Gertrude and said:

“To any soul who faithfully prays the Three Hail Mary’s, I will appear at the hour of death in a splendor so extraordinary that it will fill the soul with heavenly consolation.”

The devotion of praying three Hail Mary’s every day dates back to the 13th century. Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) recommended saying three Hail Mary’s to honor the spotless Virginity of Mary and to preserve a perfect purity of mind, heart and body in the midst of the dangers of the world. St. Leonard of Port Maurice, the celebrated missionary (1675-1751), advised all his hearers to practice this devotion.

After the example of those two great Franciscan Saints, St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori adopted this pious practice and gave it his most ardent and powerful support. He counseled its use, and even imposed it as a penance on those who had not adopted this good habit. He speaks of it in his beautiful, classic book The Glories of Mary:

THIS angelical salutation (the Hail Mary) is very pleasing to the most holy Virgin, for it seems to renew, as it were, the joy which she experienced, when St. Gabriel announced to her that she was made mother of God; and therefore we should often salute her with the “Hail Mary.” Salute her with the angelical salutation, says Thomas À Kempis, for gladly does she hear this sound.

The divine mother herself said to St. Matilda, that no one could better salute her than with the “Hail Mary.” He who salutes Mary will also be saluted by her. St. Bernard heard himself once audibly saluted from a statue of the Virgin, which said to him, Hail Bernard: “Ave Bernarde.” And the salutation of Mary, says St. Bonaventure, will be some grace, whereby she always responds to those who salute her. And Richard adds: If any one comes to the mother of our Lord saying, “Hail Mary,” could she deny him the favor he asks ? Mary herself promised St. Gertrude help in death for every Hail Mary” she said. The blessed Alanus asserts, that as all heaven rejoices when “Hail Mary” is said, so the devil trembles and flees: “Ccelum gaudet, Satan fugit, cum dico, Ave Maria.” Which Thomas À Kempis also confirms, for a devil who once appeared to him suddenly fled at hearing the “Hail Mary.”

The practice of this devotion is:
1st. To say every morning on rising, and every evening on going to bed, three “Hail Mary’s,” prostrate, or at least kneeling, adding at each that short prayer: “By thy pure and immaculate conception, Oh, Mary! make my body pure, and my soul holy.” To ask the blessing of Mary as our mother, as St. Stanislas always did, and place ourselves under the mantle of our Lady, praying her that during the following day or night she may keep us from sin. And it is a great help to this, to keep near the bed a beautiful image of the Virgin.